How to detect Ubuntu version using command line

Method 1: Use the lsb_release utility

The lsb_release utility can display LSB (Linux Standard Base) information about a Linux distribution. It is the preferred method of checking your Ubuntu version and this method works regardless of which desktop environment or Ubuntu version you are running.

Let's take a look at how to detect the Ubuntu version:

1. Open the terminal using the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by clicking the terminal icon.

2. Use the lsb_release -a command to display the Ubuntu version. You will see the Ubuntu version information in the Description line.

Output:

No LSB modules are available.

Distributor ID: Ubuntu

Description: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Release: 18.04

Codename: bionic

From the output above, you can see that I am using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

You can also display only the Description line by executing the following command:

lsb_release -d

Output:

Description: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Method 2: Use cat command

1. Use the cat command to display the contents of the /etc/issue file containing system identification text

The following commands need to be executed:

cat /etc/issue

Output:

Ubuntu 18.04 LTS \n \l

2. Use the cat command to display information in the /etc/os-release file

/etc/os-release is a file containing operating system identification data and is only found on newer Ubuntu versions running systemd.

NOTE: This method will only work if you have Ubuntu 16.04 or higher.

The following commands need to be executed:

cat /etc/os-release

Output:

NAME="Ubuntu"

VERSION="18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver)"

ID=ubuntu

ID_LIKE=debian

PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 18.04 LTS"

VERSION_ID="18.04"

HOME_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/"

SUPPORT_URL="https://help.ubuntu.com/"

BUG_REPORT_URL="https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/"

PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.ubuntu.com/legal/terms-and-policies/privacy-policy"

VERSION_CODENAME=bionic

UBUNTU_CODENAME=bionic

Method 3: Use hostnamectl command

hostnamectl is a command that allows the user to set the hostname, but you can also use it to check the Ubuntu version.

Note: This command is only available for Ubuntu 16.04 or later.

The following commands need to be executed:

hostnamectl

Output:

Static hostname: linuxize

     Icon name: computer-vm

      Chassis: vm

    Machine ID: f1ce51f447c84509a86afc3ccf17fa24

      Boot ID: 2b3cd5003e064382a754b1680991040d

  Virtualization: kvm

 Operating System: Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

      Kernel: Linux 4.15.0-22-generic

   Architecture: x86-64